Matt Prior clips the ball through midwicket on the second day of the first Test against South Africa at The Oval. Photograph: Andrew Fosker/Rex Features

It would have been asking too much for England to expect South Africa to produce successive days of insipid cricket and this time they put their teeth in, added some real bite to their approach and for the first time since Morne Morkel removed Andrew Strauss with the fourth ball of the match, put England under the cosh.

That they survived, just about, a challenging morning session in good atmospheric conditions for bowling, was largely down to Matt Prior, who chanced his arm a little early on, when he looked as ill at ease as Nick Buckles in front of a Commons select committee, and emerged with 60 invaluable runs before Morkel claimed his wicket deep into the afternoon session.

By then, though, he had led England out of the mire, the 267 they added on the first day for the loss of only three wickets already showing their value. With the help of Prior, the last four wickets added 101 runs, a familiar story with this England side in recent years and the sort of lower order resistance that has contributed so much to their success, taking the score from a precarious 284 for six to 385 before Morkel finished the innings with the wickets of Prior and Jimmy Anderson in the same over to finish with four for 72, AB de Villiers, the stop-gap keeper in the absence of Mark Boucher, claiming his fifth catch of the innings in the process.

In reply, South Africa made a similarly poor start to that of England, losing the wicket of Alviro Petersen, lbw to Anderson without scoring, before tea. But either side of a heavy and prolonged rain shower which interrupted play after the interval, Graeme Smith, a dogged bruiser of a batsman, and Hashim Amla, wristy and elegant, batted in exemplary fashion. The mugginess had gone from the air and save for occasional turn for Graeme Swann, there was little for the England bowlers. Only when Amla, on 40, and shortly before the close, offered a sharp chance high to the left of Strauss standing extra wide at first slip, did they look like losing a wicket. But Strauss could only fingertip it to the boundary and the pair will resume tomorrow with Smith on 37, Amla 47 and the score 86 for one, 299 still behind England. So two days gone and one of them apiece.

What is it that changes the mood of a team so dramatically? On the opening day, South Africa were a shadow of the competitive side they are by repute.

Under-prepared certainly, but that ought not to detract from an aggressive intent, which was lacking. Maybe harsh words were spoken, for no motivation ought to be necessary beyond the fact that these are cricketers representing their country in an endeavour to be recognised as the best in the world. Perhaps when they pulled back their Kensington curtains first thing, the bowlers sniffed the mugginess in the air and saw the cloud looming low.

The pitch may be dry as old bones, but the second new ball was only nine overs old, with shine still intact and a lush outfield to maintain it before the abrasive surface began to rip it to shreds. It felt as if it might swing for Dale Steyn and indeed from the word go it did.

In the morning Steyn, the world's premier ranked fast bowler, was a fellow transformed, bristling with malicious intent towards batsmen, and in a compelling five-over spell bowled the seemingly unbowlable Alastair Cook with an inswinger to the left hander, via his inside edge, before he could add more than a single to his overnight 114, and then in his following over, claimed Ravi Bopara as the batsman thought better of trying to hook a bouncer but stupidly left his bat up in the air for the ball to clip.

Thus did Bopara register his fifth duck in 18 Test innings: he might want to improve on that.

Somehow, through the testing first hour, Ian Bell's wicket remained intact, surviving a certain run out had Jacques Rudolph's throw hit after a fine piece of reactive fielding in the gully as Prior played there and ran, until Jacques Kallis replaced Steyn, and in his first over, having sent down several booming away swingers, flummoxed the batsman with one that held its line and trimmed the off-bail as he shouldered arms as he once used to try to do – unsuccessfully – to Shane Warne. This was where South Africa needed to finish things off, and they gave Prior and Tim Bresnan a torrid time.

When 17, and the score 298 for six, Prior was unable to keep down a lifter from Morkel, but Rudolph once more was unable to cling on to the low chance.

It signalled a change of mood and fortune for Prior, who had seen Bresnan drag a wide ball from Imran Tahir on to his stumps and Stuart Broad bowled by Vernon Philander, had already taken up his tempo by pulling Morkel through midwicket and then flat-batting him through extra cover.

Beyond the genius that was Adam Gilchrist, there can have been few more potent batsmen than he at number seven. The 59 runs eked out in the morning for the loss of four wickets were put in perspective after lunch when he and Swann in particular clobbered as many again in a shade under 11 overs.

Prior's 50, his 20th to sit alongside six centuries, came in two hours, from 75 balls with nine fours. There was just an outside chance that he might have been able to convert this to three figures, but he scotched the idea himself by chasing one from Morkel, offering a simple catch to De Villiers, with Anderson following shortly, just feathering a rising ball down the legside.